Tunnel panel accused of padding numbers

Proposed tunnel would help ease the heavy traffic that enters the city each weekday.

AT ISSUE: TUNNEL VISION

An advisory measure on the June 8 ballot will give Coronado voters a voice on a proposal to reduce traffic by building a tunnel through town.

Proponents: A yes vote would encourage the city to complete a study of traffic-relieving alternatives, including a tunnel, between the San Diego-Coronado Bridge and North Island Naval Air Station.

Opponents: A no vote would tell the city to stop spending money on a costly project and begin studying more realistic alternatives.

A commission looking at funding for a crosstown tunnel to relieve traffic congestion in Coronado is being accused of trying to massage its traffic counts on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge and scheming to hold secret meetings promoting the project.

Coronado Councilwoman Barbara Denny made the accusations at public meetings twice in the past month against the volunteer Coronado Tunnel Commission. City officials and members of the commission say no wrongdoing occurred.

Coronado residents will be asked in an advisory vote on the June ballot whether they support the city continuing to spend money to complete a large-scale study for long-term traffic solutions — including a tunnel through town. The accusations highlight the increased intensity of the debate.

The city has spent more than 10 years and $13.5 million, mostly in federal and regional grants and toll revenue, studying ways to ease congestion. The study is nearly complete. Designed to accommodate 30,000 daily trips, the bridge now carries 85,000 cars each weekday, many heading to North Island Naval Air Station.

In January, the City Council agreed to spend about $10,000 to place the advisory measure on the ballot and $25,000 for an educational campaign.

Denny told the City Council last week that she heard about the “secret meetings and massaging numbers” from a resident who attended a March 11 Tunnel Commission meeting.

“The impression of those in attendance was that most definitely they were planning secret meetings and massaging numbers because traffic numbers are too low to justify a tunnel,” Denny said in an interview last week.

Assistant City Manager Tom Ritter, however, was at the meeting in question and said nothing inappropriate happened. A transcript notes commissioners discussed forming an advocacy group supporting the tunnel, a group that would not be connected to the city. Ritter advised commissioners that any advocacy, pro or con, must be discussed outside of the meeting as private citizens.

Ritter said that if anything was discussed that legally shouldn’t have been, “we would have corrected it.”

Commissioner Steve Clary agreed with Ritter’s assessment. He said he did not recall the word “massage” used during a discussion of a Caltrans traffic sensor on Orange Avenue, the closest one to the bridge. The city’s director of engineering attended the meeting and said the sensor was at times unreliable. One commissioner said he wanted to ask Caltrans what the sensor measured and how the city could get an accurate count of bridge traffic.

No action was taken during last week’s City Council meeting, but the council agreed to Denny’s request to remind tunnel commissioners to follow the state’s open meeting law, provide accurate information at meetings and follow the board’s mission.

Denny also requested additional documents related to the tunnel.

“What I got back was less than satisfactory to educate voters,” Denny said. “I feel very strongly that voters need accurate, open, transparent information regarding the 11-year tunnel study for which Coronado spent over $13 million in taxpayers money, including bridge users’ toll money.”

Meanwhile, a grass-roots committee of neighbors, “Stop Tunnel Spending Committee of Coronado,” has been encouraging voters to send a message that “enough is enough.”

Denny said she has no formal role with the group but “supports their efforts as a citizen-resident.” She said her main role is to allow voters to make an informed decision.

Denny co-wrote the ballot argument against the measure. Mayor Casey Tanaka and council members Carrie Downey, Al Ovrom and Michael Woiwode wrote the argument in favor.

“I find it puzzling that my colleagues do not share the viewpoint of the voters,” Denny said. “I’m still walking door to door, still aware of what people think about the tunnel, that it’s a bad project and a colossal waste of taxpayer money.”